The trade in government is a hard one to undertake. It is even harder in Nigeria as a result of mischief, cynicism, prejudice and pre-emptive provocation, all of which underscore the vested interests at play, and which control or seek to control the rhythm of our political life at all levels of government.Over the years, this blessed country has suffered the misfortune of having its politics and the fate of its citizens shaped by men who possess neither scruple, nor ideals or greatness and because such little minds have dominated our political landscape, the few men existing in the circle with refined disposition are stained or so it came to be, hence the loss of confidence in the political class.
But the dark hour is just before dawn. We suddenly woke up to a new dawn of Buharism. The era of change in which the national prayer, “so help me God,” was answered and our own dear GMB became the people’s PMB.
PMB, the rejected stone became the cornerstone, the colour of his cap, his words and deeds, his stern countenance and brief contagious smile all became phenomenal. The matter became so serious that when he will raise a candidate’s hand for an election, it is a legendary seal of fate. Buharism represents a watershed in our democracy many remarkable ways, chief among which are the deepening of constitutional democracy and entrenchment of a grassroots driven politics.
Indeed, PMB raised the hands of a number of candidates of his party, the APC in the last elections.
I remember one of Mr. President’s campaign addresses in Kano where he told multitude of supporters in response to a concern on the matter of candidates of their political parties who are then displaying his pictures alongside their own on their campaign posters.
Unequivocally, he told the people, “APC SAK; whoever among the candidates of other political parties that liked him and wished to use his pictures for effect on their campaign materials should join the APC, otherwise they were on their own. And the people could choose to do with them as they deemed fit.
The wisdom was that such candidates were unknown relatively to President Buhari and they were not in APC, he knew nothing of them but the people amongst whom they live could judge them better.
All of these happened just before our man of the ages became President Muhammadu Buhari.
As President of Nigeria, Buhari made a landmark statement which echoes around the country and beyond admitting multiple interpretations, depending on perception or perspective. In light of the word on the marble by Mr. President, it is a little bit out of place to expect that PMB will continue to do certain things as he did then being GMB of the APC.
Be that as it may, it is preposterous and mischievous to suggest that to raise or not to raise Prince Abubakar Audu’s hand for governorship election scheduled to hold in Kogi state on November 21, 2015 will be an integrity test for PMB’s anti-corruption fight. What if he does? And what if he does not? The man Audu is a standard bearer of the APC in the first crucial election to be conducted on PMB’s watch and what is more logical is to focus on the conduct of the election rather than what the party would do towards the election.
The APC has got an election to win; Buhari has a country to govern. If the APC deems it a matter of necessity for Mr. President to go to Lokoja and raise Prince Audu’s hand for him to win the election and the President on the other hand is convinced to do so without any conflict with his allegiance to serve, or otherwise, shikenan.
Kogite know their onions. They know what they really want. They opted for change. A direction has been charted and we all should wait and see.
As a matter of fact, Buhari’s handraising for Audu is not the real issue but that he managed to emerge as the party’s flag-bearer through due process in a fair and square primary election.
It is only natural that all APC machinery is deployed to help work out its victory in the Kogi election. Perhaps, it is not PMB’s hand raising that won some election but the glamour for change as can be seen from the rumoured challenges thrown by the incumbent governor of Kogi state and the PDP flag-bearer for the November election that “even if PMB moves his bedroom to Lokoja he would emerge victorious. Well he is not the first to say so. Abubakar Audu is on a mission to rescue Kogi from poor governance.
Prince Audu has been arraigned four times at the state high court and three times at the Federal High Court Abuja under different judges and yet no substantial evidence of wrong-doing has been established against him, forcing many to conclude that his arraignment and re-arraignment are politically motivated. So it is prejudicial, insane and unjust to condemn Prince Audu before a verdict is given.
Prince Audu is a frontline politician in Kogi state and North-central Nigeria whose record of achievements in both quantitative and qualitative terms has remained unequalled over the years and thus, waited for a rendition of what is known as Kogi’s finest era.
By and large, PMB has shown that the impossible can happen and Prince Audu is set to follow suit which seems entirely possible with a near unanimous support and a poll number that is obstinately gaining daily on a double digit.